Kent Cricket Community Trust: Winter update

After its first six months of activity, the Kent Cricket Community Trust (KCCT) has provided programmes to engage hard-to-reach communities, and those impacted by social isolation, through the vehicle of cricket.

As well as programmes delivered throughout the cricket season with refugee groups, community organisations, and those at risk social isolation, the KCCT has enjoyed a successful first six months of delivering on goals set in June 2022.

January 2023 saw the first Refugee Cricket & Culture awareness session held at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence – highlighting the importance that cricket and sport can have on those arriving into the UK as refugees.

Working in partnership with Kent County Council and the Kent Refugee Network, 15+ people from the local community attended the event to learn more about the journey of those fleeing global conflict.

With discussions on how local clubs and coaches can make cricket as accessible as possible for these young people, the session will be followed-up with advice sent to all clubs in the county on this can be achieved.

Due to the success of the projects listed above, the KCCT is now delivering Walking Cricket sessions in a number of districts across the county for those aged 55 and over, open to anybody regardless of previous cricket experience.

These sessions are designed to provide slow-paced team activity that not only provides physical exercise, but encourages social interaction and teambuilding.

Every session is followed by a social Tea.

Plans to run more digital inclusion sessions, with the aim of getting people connected online and facilitating people to get online, are in place to run across 2023, held at The Oriole at Lime Tree Café at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.

Cricket and Tea events will continue this year, with special events to mark the coronation of King Charles III, held in the Canterbury district and beyond – designed to again appeal to those looking to engage in their local community.

Sarah Osborn, Kent Cricket Community Trust’s Development Manager, said: “I am extremely pleased with how our first six months of activity has gone – we have reached out to a lot of people that would not usually see Kent Cricket as a way in which they can assimilate into the community more.

“However, this work is just the beginning of the journey of how KCCT can develop in the future and fully reach more corners of our community.

“I am looking forward to building on our community programmes for 2023.”

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Cricket has a unique ability to connect communities and improve lives. It is a sport that transcends generations and has the ability to reach beyond a diverse range of social boundaries in a way that few other sports do.

Kent Cricket Community Trust (KCCT) aims to make a positive impact in Our Community by engaging with individuals and social groups that can become, and often do feel, isolated.

KCCT’s aim is to make a difference by ensuring that Kent Cricket, as a major sporting brand and as the leading sporting team in Our County, is identified as a Club that cares about Our Community because ‘Together, we are Kent’.

Donate to the KCCT Now [via the Charities Aid Foundation]